Hold My Hand
by Alpenglow93
Summary: Fitzsimmons and their long overdue first date and the outcome (I'm shocking at summaries.) Please review! :)
1. Chapter 1

**(So I adore Fitzsimmons and because I reside in the UK series 3 hasn't quite made it to our screens yet. I wanted to attempt at writing what their "First Date" would really be like. I've steered a little way from the story line as because I've only seen up to the end of season 2 I don't know what happens after in series 3. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, I do plan on writing more but would love your opinions and thoughts of where it should go! :))**

 _"Jemma?"_

 _"Hmm?"_

 _"I was thinking we could go for dinner."_

 _Glancing up breifly from her microscope she frowned "We always go for dinner.."_

 _"No I mean, Dinner...Not here"_

 _This time her head shot up from the microscope, it took most of her willpower to keep her composure_

 _"...Oh...Right..."_

 _"Somewhere nice...Where we can talk? About stuff"_

 _"Like what?"_

 _"Well, Us?"_

 _"Okay...Yes..Why not" She smiled_

 _"Great! Friday?"_

 _"Friday."_

It was happening.  
They had known each other for ten years, and now it was finally happening. Jemma Simmons was going on a date with her best friend. Leo Fitz.

Of course she had thought about the possibility of her and Fitz being more than friends, when they first become friends she considered it. There had been "will they, wont they" moments throughout their first year at the academy. But then they worked so well as a team she was scared that a relationship would ruin that. She wasn't proud of it but she had friend-zoned him and over the years convinced herself that it was for their own good. But was it just her self-confidence getting the better of her?  
In her head she had played over the night ahead of her, her brain scrambling for a realistic outcome, of course she had dated before but this was different. This was Fitz.  
On one hand it could be the missing piece of the jigsaw, it wouldn't change a thing. But in the back of her mind she was scared, scared that if this didn't work out, whether it was now, a month from now or ten years from now their friendship and work partnership would be destroyed.

She rummaged through her wardrobe picking out a simple dark grey dress, small kitten heel shoes and a black jacket. She quickly applied her make before taking a long look at herself in the mirror.  
Skye knocked on her door before letting herself in, smirking she wolf whistled "Well well well, don't you look fetching" She grinned  
"Oh, thank you... its nothing special." Jemma murmured looking down at the floor nervously "Maybe this is a bad idea Skye, I mean it's Fitz... He's my best friend... I don't want to lose that..." She trailed off  
"Don't be stupid!" Skye chuckled "you two have been crazy about each other for far too long, I'm surprised neither of you noticed."  
"I know, I know but what if "  
"No what ifs Simmons! For Christ sake, look at it as an experiment. If you don't get clear results then at least you know that you two aren't compatible." Skye stated. Jemma pursed her lips and then nodded. "right.. yes... an experiment." She smiled at Skye "Thanks Skye."  
"Hey no problem..." She beamed "it'll be fine. Where are you meeting him?"

"We both agreed it would be nice to meet at the restaurant, make it feel a bit more...Y'know"

"Like a date?" Skye teased

"..Well, Yes" Jemma couldn't help but smile slightly, she still couldn't believe that she was really going on a date with her best friend. looking down at her phone she grabbed "Well, wish me luck!"

"Good Luck" Skye hugged her "Try not to over think it all!"

"Right, no over thinking." Jemma took a deep breath before heading out.

"I'd lose the tie mate" Hunter stated before taking a swig of his beer "Far to formal, she'll think your dates at the registry office." Leo's eyes widened and pulled frantically at his tie, Hunter chuckled "Fitz... It'll be fine, she likes you, she wouldn't have agreed if she didn't."

Leo wasn't at all calm about this situation. After all, he'd been looking for the opportune moment to ask out Jemma since they first started working together and now it was happening. It had been his suggestion (He put it down to the rush of a successful mission, the inner confidence boost he'd gained had been useful) but now that the time had come, he was filled with anxiety. "You don't know that" her raked a hand through his short hair - a desperate attempt to make him look handsome "she could just be doing me a favour...she could be humouring me."

"Is she really the type to do that Fitz?"

Leo frowned "Well, I guess you have a point" He mumbled, undoing his top button and pulling on a black blazer. "Better?" He turned to Hunter

"Much better" Hunter down the last two gulps of his beer "So where are you taking her?"

"Oh, Erm well it was rather tricky, I had to do extensive research on the matter, It was quite interesting really, Firstly I..." Leo looked over at Hunter who was staring at him wide eyed and faked a yawn, mocking him. "Err, she enjoys Italian food and there's a nice place about 15 minutes away, I said I'd meet her there" He muttered looking at his wrist-watch "Shoot, I've gotta go, I don't want to be late!" and with that he bolted out of the door.

Skye was dawdling towards her room when Fitz came speeding past her, she grinned and looked over to hunter, who returned the gesture along with rolling his eyes

"Honestly I don't think I was that nervous when I married Bobby" He joked

"You should have seen Simmons" Skye stated "I thought at any moment she was going to implode with nerves."

"Think it'll go well?"

"Who knows, it's Fitzsimmons..."

"Yeah, They're practically a couple already!"


	2. Chapter 2

**So I first thought that this would be the easy bit to write - I was completely wrong. I'm a little unsure about what should happen as I do understand the concerns with getting together with your best friend.**

 **I thank you all for reading and if you have any comments to make or have some ideas on where you would like this story to go (constructive criticism is always welcome!) please write a review!:) Thanks!**

Jemma was waiting outside the Italian, there was a slight chill in the air but nothing unsual for the time of year. Both of them had decided they would walk down, and to avoid awkward encounters she had decided to leave earlier to avoid any awkward encounters. She chewed on her bottom lip as she saw him approached, her heart felt like it skipped a beat while her brain started to over analyse this entire situation.

"Were you waiting here long? Sorry I tried to get here on time" Leo stammered

"Fitz it's fine, I was early..I didn't want to-"

"Avoid having to walk down together?"

Jemma smiled "Not in the sense that I was avoiding you, just that we wanted this to be a date and walking down together would have just been like two friends going for a drink or something"

"How smart of you Simmons" Leo grinned. "Shall we go in?"

The Italian Leo has chosen was perfect, Jemma had to give it to him – when it came to food he certainly knew the best places. The interior was grey and white, a very modern feel to it. Their surroundings were lit by what felt like a thousand candles, her mind started to wonder about all the health and safety regulations they must have in place and her eyes quickly glanced around and made notes of the necessary emergency exits. They were seated and both offered menus, after 3 minutes of silently debating whether to go for King Prawn Pomodoro or the classic spaghetti carbonara, Leo broke the silence.

"You're going to go for spaghetti carbonara." He chuckled

Jemma looked up and arched her eyebrow "What makes you so sure?"

"Well, I know that look, you're thinking do I go for something new or something classic, and eventually you'll over think it so much that you'll go for what you're comfortable with

Jemma laughed "says you! I'd like you to try something different once in a blue moon"

"Yeah well what if I don't like it? I'll be hungry and grumpy." he stated, a small smile swept across his lips.

"That's true, I don't think I can handle your grumpy mood tonight Fitz" She teased

"That, Simmons, is something you don't have to worry about, being here with you automatically makes me the happiest person alive"

Jemma smiled softly, reaching over and giving his hand a small squeeze "Oh Fitz..." Looking up she realised the waitress had returned to take their order, quickly retrieving her hand from him, she ordered her spaghetti carbonara and a glass of red wine. She grinned as Leo ordered the same, with a beer instead. There was a comfortable silence as they both locked eyes and smiled. Leo once again, broke the silence.

"So...About us"

Jemma was slightly surprised he going for it straight away. At least let her have a glass of wine, calm her nerves

"Yes, I suppose we should start as we mean to go on" She smiled softly "Do you want to start?"

"Okay..." Fitz took a deep breath "Apart from my mother, you're the person I care the most about, we've been best friends for so long, it seems stupid that we already haven't had this conversation."

"I would be lying If I said I've not thought about it too" She whispered, "The first year we met, you were every thing I would look for in a companion, and you are my companion..."

Leo looked to her, raising his eye brows "But..."

Jemma sighed "I don't know what to do Fitz, you're my best friend in the world, that's not to say I don't have feelings for you, It means that if we'd break up I'd lose my boyfriend and my best friend, I don't think I could forgive myself."

"Who's says We're going to break up?"

"Oh come on, we're scientists our brains are programmed to look at a number of possibilities"

"So then why don't you talk about the where the one where everything's great? Where We're married with kids and a monkey?! Why do you a have to look at the worst case scenario?" He declared

"actually the worst case scenario I imagin-"

"Don't Jemma."

She fell silent, how could he not see that her concerns were perfectly rational? Did he not have the same fears?

"You're always too scared Jemma, always looking for a reason something won't work, why?"

"Fitz I..." She closed her eyes tightly, she couldn't fathom the words. "I don't know what to say, I don't know what I can say to make you understand my fears..."

Leo sighed heavily, staring out the the window at the busy streets.

"Surviving has really come back to kick me in the face" his attempt at a joke was replied with a look of horror and hurt. "it was a joke"

"No. No don't say such things!" her voice got louder, the eyes of other diners glanced over them. "I saved your life"

"Yeah well I didn't ask you to" He mumbled,

Jemma winced as if she'd just had a vital organ ripped out of her. "Well, if that's how you feel then clearly this was a mistake" She spat, getting some money out of her purse she stood up and chucked the money on the table "Good night Leo" she whispered before storming out.


	3. Chapter 3

**So the reason I called this fan fiction "Hold My Hand" was because of the song by The Fray, at the moment I have become slightly obsessed with the song and I thought it would fit the characters quite well, I realised that I've not really expressed the words in the song into my story (If you haven't listened to it - it's a lovely song). So if you're confused (you might not care - I dunno!) on the name of the story then that was my thinking behind it. Annyyywayyyy, here is chapter 3!**

 **Also, apologies this has taken so long to write - I have been to Amsterdam in the last week to see Nightwish! :)**

Leo watched her leave, his mind going into overdrive re-living the last five minutes. Like Jemma, he had gone through this date over and over in his head, although the outcomes he'd thought out were a lot different from what had just happened. Had he just ruined his one chance with his perfect woman? As if a light bulb had just switched on in his brain he stood up, hastily throwing more than enough money down to cover the meal he wasn't going to eat and ran out of the restaurant.

"Jemma?!" He called, looking around he saw her skulking off. His eyes widened and he ran towards her

"Jemma!" He caught up to her and stood in front of her grabbing her shoulder. "Wait."

"Bugger off Fitz" Jemma sighed. It was taking everything she had not to burst into tears right in front of him. "I don't want to talk to you" she whispered breaking the grip from his hand and moving away

"No Jemma, you need to listen to me" He grabbed hold of her hand and she stopped walking, looking up at him.

"I think you've done enough damage for one night.." She murmured, trying to discreetly wipe a stray tear from her eye.

"I know, and I'm sorry...Shit Jemma, please don't cry..." guilt swept over him as he dug into his pocket in search for a tissue. When he couldn't find one he mumbled something inaudible and gently wiped her tear with his hand. "I shouldn't have said what I did, I was upset that you only look at what could go wrong with us" He led her over to a small wall and they both sat down "I am so grateful for everything you have done for me, you saved my life and I don't know how I could ever repay you for that, but then you also left me..."

"Fitz I had to go! They needed me to go undercover and you weren't recovering well, I thought if I left..."

"You thought if you left I'd forget about you, and forget all my feelings for you and you'd come back and everything would be fine"

"You can hardly blame me Fitz. We never talked about what you said and I thought if I left it would help you"

"But it didn't, I became isolated, I would talk to myself and act like you were there for Christ sake."

"But when I came back you shut me out!"

"I had to!"

"Then you can't be annoyed at me for leaving Fitz, you shut me out just as much"

Leo sighed, shrugging slightly to show he had lost the argument. Jemma looked over at him and gently leant her head on his shoulder "We're a bit of a mess aren't we?" she whispered

"A bit?" He scoffed "we're a train wreck."

Jemma smiled slightly "Maybe we can't date" She felt Leo's body stiffen and looked up at him and taking her head off of his shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that.. I mean, I think we know each other too well...The dates I've been on have been with"

"Complete morons" Leo mumbled, wincing as he felt Jemma's elbow jab into him "Ow!"

"You deserved it, they have not been morons, albeit...Some of them haven't been perfect"

"Which guy do you mean there Simmons? The one who was a professional balloon sculptor or the one who thought Quidditch should be an Olympic sport?"

"Leo Fitz, are you mocking my choices in men?"

"Maybe." He grinned feeling as if the playfulness between the two coming back to them

"I'd be careful considering last week I agreed to go on a date with you.. and given the outcome of the dinner you're not one to mock" She winked at him

Leo's eyes widened slightly "Shit, of course...Sorry Jemma, I wasn't being fai-"

"Joking, Fitz." She smiled "Anyway back to my point, we're best friends, we know everything about each other... most dates are spent getting to know one another...Unfortunately we don't have that"

"Well that's not true" Leo spoke slowly, allowing a few seconds for his brain to process his thoughts "We're best friends, yes. We know everything about each other? Hell no, there are hundreds of things I don't know about you... and vice-versa."

"You know everything about me that is important, everything else is just is just..pointless" she spoke softly, as if she didn't want to delve into her past life, her past memories.

"It's not pointless." He stated "Nothing about you is pointless"

Jemma's eyes looked up into his "You're infuriating, one minute I want to kick you and punch you and scream at you, and the next you just say the sweetest things"

"Yeah...It's kinda my move" He chuckled awkwardly. "Okay, so new plan, we go to that burger van over there, get the greasy bacon cheese burger they do and ask questions, things we don't know about each other, small pointless, silly things that mean nothing to anyone." He smiled standing up and offering her his hand "And it will be amazing."

"It certainly sounds it" She beamed, slipping her hand into his and standing up "Lets go"

 **Okay so this was really hard to write, I can't fully decide whether a relationship between these two would work, or whether it would be dreadful, it's also very short and I'm sorry for that, in return I will do my best to make chapter four a bit more interesting and with a lot more content.**


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